A contractor named Joseph Owusu, 51, was fined GH¢3,600 by the Tarkwa Circuit Court for writing five defective checks. If he doesn’t pay, he will do five years in prison.
This occurred following the court, presided over by Mrs. Hathia Ama Manu, convicting Owusu on five counts of issuing fraudulent checks.
The complainant’s money was to be refunded by Owusu, the court ordered.
Stephen Dankwah-Smith, the complainant, was a licensed money lender who resided in Tarkwa alongside Owusu, according to Police Superintendent Juliana Essel-Dadzie, who led the case.
In July of 2020, Dankwah-Smith sent an offer to Owusu to provide a loan with a 20 percent interest rate after the latter requested financial support.
According to the prosecutor, Dankwah-Smith gave Owusu a loan of GH¿ 1,268,480.00 in installments, with the understanding that he would repay the balance plus interest by the end of September 2021.
According to Superintendent Essel-Dadzie, Dankwah-Smith made multiple unsuccessful attempts to get the money back after Owusu failed to pay the bill.
According to her, Owusu wrote five checks to the UMB Tarkwa branch on March 3, 2023, each having a face value of GH3,600, GH150,000, GH12,000, GH1,300,000, and GH120,000, to be drawn by the complainant that same day.
The prosecution said that Dankwah-Smith notified Owusu that the bank had dishonored the checks due to insufficient cash, but Owusu did nothing.
When the complainant brought the case to the attention of the police on July 20, 2023, Owusu was taken into custody and confessed to the crime in his statement.
